Who’s hot and who’s not: ‘Vindicated’ Andy Farrell, England ‘expectation’ and ‘moaning’ Fabien Galthie
Lions head coach Andy Farrell's selection decisions paid off.
It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.
THEY’RE ON FIRE!
Andy Farrell: The British and Irish Lions boss has played with fire in recent weeks, attracting criticism for a myriad of issues such as calling up his son Owen, bringing in Scottish cover that mirrored the infamous ‘Geography Six’ gaffe of 2017, and seeing his team produce generally dull rugby on a tour that refused to inspire. Then came his bold backing of Tom Curry to start Saturday’s Test series opener.
The England back-rower had been uninspiring on tour, but Farrell ignored the selection claim of the more in-form Jac Morgan and was vindicated with a top-notch Curry display. His choices of Sione Tuipulotu and the two Tadhgs – Beirne and Furlong – also paid a rich dividend in a game plan that had the shackled Wallabies beaten out of the gate in Brisbane by the time Dan Sheehan pounced just after the interval to make it 24-5. Forget the final result of 27-19 – it was game over at that point. The selection masterclass has elevated Farrell’s reputation.
England: It’s a funny old game, rugby. The outlook was grave for Steve Borthwick when England were beaten last November in London by South Africa. It was their seventh defeat in nine Test matches – their fifth loss in a row – and evidence of genuine progress was elusive. The rapid exit of assistant Felix Jones and Aled Walters jumping ship to Ireland also cast a pall on the Borthwick blueprint.
Eight months on, though, the uplift has been encouraging. There was a second-half battering in Dublin at the start of the Six Nations, but England are now on a seven-Test winning streak and optimism surely now exists that 2025/26 can be the season when they beat all comers and the RFU will finally be vindicated for staying loyal to Borthwick. Clinching a series 2-0 in Argentina and then successfully exploring squad depth versus the USA was a July job well done, planting the seed for a new season full of expectation.
Edwill van der Merwe: Test breakthroughs for players in their late 20s are increasingly rare, but the Springboks winger has bucked that pattern with his arrival as a serious prospect at the age of 29. He was 28 when given his first run, the June 2024 win over Wales in London, but the ensuing 13-month wait to get another go has treated him well.
Critics will question the level of the opposition provided by Italy and Georgia, but the Lions winger deserves kudos for now looking the part at international level. There were two tries against the Italians, two more against the Georgians – and it has whetted the appetite for an intriguing Rugby Championship selection battle in the wing positions. Rassie Erasmus has done well in facilitating the emergence of Van der Merwe at such an ‘old’ age, with the newcomer now a credible live option for South Africa’s bigger matches.
Junior Boks: South Africa’s U20s were a difficult watch the last couple of years. Hosting World Rugby Junior Championships back-to-back in the Cape Town region in 2023 and 2024 was supposed to give them an advantage, but miserable weather and coaching that lacked conviction consigned them to underwhelming third and seventh place finishes.
Now, the 2025 edition has concluded with them deservedly crowned champions for the first time since 2012. What gives? The game plan formulated by new head coach Kevin Foote went a long way towards changing things for the better, while the fast summer tracks in Italy were quite the contrast to the debilitating mud and puddles of Cape Town. All the sweeter was how the final win in Rovigo came against arch rivals New Zealand.
Springboks: Rassie Erasmus reveals a change in approach for the Rugby Championship
Zimbabwe: What is rare is wonderful, and the news that the Africans have qualified for the first Rugby World Cup since 1991 demands attention. For too long, hapless Namibia have been appearing at the finals without loading the gun, never mind firing a shot – and they can’t be credited for the draw awarded due to a typhoon cancelling a match in 2019.
Their brutal on-pitch finals record reads 26 matches played, 26 defeats – and some by horrible margins. Now, there is every chance that Zimbabwe could be similarly blown away at Australia 2027 and embarrassed on the scoreboard, but their qualification was merited as they defeated Namibia 30-28 in Saturday’s Rugby Africa final in Kampala, showing that their semi-final win last year over the Namibians wasn’t a fluke.
COLD AS ICE!
Australia: Saturday’s no-show from the Wallabies has rendered the Lions tour the most needlessly hyped sports event in years. After all the marketing wheeze about this being one of the world’s must-watch rivalries, rugby’s brutal reality laid waste to all pufferies.
Test rugby will always be won nine times out of ten by the team that dominates physically and commands the gainline – and the Lions were a class apart in exposing Australia’s deficiencies. There have been concerns for ages about the lack of depth in the game Down Under, and they were abjectly exposed in Brisbane. Don’t blame Joe Schmidt. The many culprits for this weakness came before him.
Fabien Galthie: A wry smile was the only plausible reaction to the French coach having a moan over the refereeing during his team’s 0-3 series drubbing by the All Blacks. It was in the lead-up to a trip-ending loss in Hamilton when he pleaded for France “to be officiated as if we were playing on neutral ground”.
There were allegations voiced about Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane, but it was hard to take Galthie seriously. After all, he had brought with him to New Zealand a French squad minus many of its Six Nations title-winning stars. It was the coach who set his team up to fail 0-3, not the officials.
American weather: The weather shenanigans that interrupted Saturday’s England versus USA match in Washington DC were a sharp, early reminder that Rugby World Cup 2031 in the States could be quite an ordeal for players and fans alike. An hour delay to kick-off, followed by a 40-minute in-game suspension to play, was far from ideal.
It was fortunate for rugby officialdom that this match was only a friendly, consigned to a live streaming platform. Imagine the scheduling chaos in six years if similar delays materialise to frustrate big-spending TV broadcasters from around the world showing the main event.
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Pete Samu: It’s curious looking back how the Lions arrived in Australia last month and issued a warning to the provincial teams that they needed to be at their strongest as per the agreed tour contract. Given the lacklustre nature of these matches building up to the Test series, that warning fell on deaf ears, so it now comes across as very odd that separate small print in this Lions tour deal has denied the First Nations & Pasifika XV the services of Pete Samu.
The Wallabies international is signed and sealed for the Waratahs next season after ending his time at Bordeaux with a Champions Cup title, but he has been denied an appearance against the Lions on Tuesday in Melbourne as he didn’t play for a Super Rugby team in 2024. It smacks of talking out of both sides of your mouth, the Lions wanting to face strong opposition and then stopping a strong player playing against them.
Samoa: Ambushed in Fiji, Scotland were in no mood for a repeat upset when they took on Samoa in Auckland on Friday. Gregor Townsend’s side were efficient in the way they secured their 41-12 win and can feel pleased with their response. However, the inability of the Samoans to put up a feistier challenge was disappointing.
21 months ago, they came within a whisker of a win over England at the Rugby World Cup but, as feared at the time, they are now way off the pace in terms of kicking on from that excellent performance. There has been far too much upheaval on and off the pitch since that giddy Saturday in Lille, and their struggle doesn’t bode well for their 2027 finals hopes.
